Golf followers are beginning to be taught the identify Justin Suh as he contends at massive event after massive event.
For his newest trick, Suh fired a 6-under-par 66 in his second spherical to take over the lead on the Memorial Tournament on Friday in Dublin, Ohio.
Suh stands at 8-under 136 by two rounds, one forward of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama in second. Matsuyama shot the spherical of the day — a bogey-free, 7-under 65 — to leap into competition at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Patrick Cantlay (67) and David Lipsky (69) are tied for third at 6 underneath. Other big-name gamers like Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth are lurking on the tour’s newest “designated event,” however everyone seems to be wanting up at Suh.
The 25-year-old received the Korn Ferry Tour Finals final yr en path to securing his PGA Tour card. He has excelled at tough programs, tying for fifth on the Honda Classic, tying for sixth at The Players Championship and capturing 69-68 to begin the PGA Championship earlier than fading to a T26 end.
“I’ve done a lot better in I think tougher tournament conditions,” Suh mentioned, “and I think just the way we kind of piece a course together in our strategy and how we play courses, I think the tougher it is, the better. I think off the tee, I find a lot of fairways and I try not to get into too much big trouble. I definitely enjoy faster greens.”
Suh rolled in seven birdies on Friday and made only one bogey. That bogey got here on the par-3 sixteenth, when his tee shot discovered a greenside bunker, however he received the stroke again with a birdie on the par-4 18th after his strategy shot landed inside 10 ft of the pin.
Suh mentioned he was “pretty aware” he was placing for the outright lead.
“That leaderboard is pretty big on 18, so I saw that,” Suh mentioned. “… I’ve been in this situation before, so I think — I mean, Hideki’s also a great guy. I really enjoy playing with him, so I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun.”
Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, is vying for his first PGA Tour win because the Sony Open in January 2022. He began his Friday spherical on the again 9 and made 4 birdies earlier than including three extra at Nos. 5, 7 and eight.
Matsuyama drained a birdie putt from about 33 ft on the par-3 eighth gap — proper after making a 25-footer for birdie at No. 7.
“To make those putts at 7 and 8 were huge,” Matsuyama mentioned.
Cantlay additionally began on the again 9 and birdied Nos. 5, 7 and 9 coming in to complete a 67 with only one bogey on the cardboard. Cantlay is comfy at Muirfield Village, having received Jack Nicklaus’ event in 2019 and 2021.
He mentioned the course was scorable within the morning wave, however enjoying it within the afternoon solar is one other matter.
“It’s pretty obvious when you’re out there (Thursday) afternoon that birdies are hard to come by,” Cantlay mentioned. “I think I made 15 pars and felt really good about it. There were a lot of holes playing difficult in the afternoon (Thursday). I imagine that’s what it’s going to be like this weekend.”
Si Woo Kim of South Korea shot a 68 and is 5 underneath, tied for fifth with Mark Hubbard (70).
McIlroy, the world No. 3 from Northern Ireland, carded 68 to get to a tie for seventh at 4 underneath with the likes of Rickie Fowler (68). World No. 2 Rahm of Spain opened bogey-bogey however steadied from there, birdieing his ultimate gap to shoot a second straight 70 and be part of the group at 4 underneath, which additionally consists of Austrian Sepp Straka (69) and Patrick Rodgers (70).
Spieth made three bogeys in a five-hole stretch on his solution to an even-par 72, conserving him at 3 underneath. Tied with him for twelfth are Lee Hodges (69), Wyndham Clark (71) and Englishman Luke Donald (69), the previous world No. 1 who hasn’t received on tour since 2012.
First-round chief Davis Riley adopted a gap 67 with a 6-over 78, dropping him all the way in which again to 1 over for the event.
Notables lacking the minimize of three over embody Jason Day of Australia (4 over), Cameron Young (5 over), Justin Thomas (6 over), Corey Conners of Canada (8 over) and Tom Kim of South Korea (10 over).
Defending champion Billy Horschel adopted a tough first-round 84 with an even-par 72 on Friday. He missed the minimize at 12 over.
–Field Level Media